Jean-Marie Le Pen repeats Holocaust comments in European Parliament

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the French far-Right leader, faced calls for his prosecution after he repeated a claim that Nazi death camps were a "detail of Second World War history".

Jean-Marie Le Pen was convicted by a Munich court in 1999 for 'minimising the Holocaust'Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

7:46PM GMT 25 Mar 2009

MEPs have moved to prevent the 80-year-old French National Front leader from presiding over the opening of the first session of the new European Parliament on July 14 as the doyen of the house.

Officials have also indicated that he could face disciplinary action for "bringing the parliament into disrepute" by using his immunity as an MEP to avoid criminal prosecution for Holocaust denial.

Mr Le Pen on Wednesday caused a storm in the parliament by defiantly hitting back at "inflammatory accusations" that he was a convicted Holocaust denier who should be denied his right next year to become "father" of the Parliament as the oldest sitting MEP. Mr Le Pen will celebrate his 81st birthday following European elections in June, making him the parliament's oldest member.

"I just said that the gas chambers were a detail of Second World War history, which is clear," he told a sitting of the EU assembly.

Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat and leader of the parliament's Socialists, led the calls for Le Pen to be stripped of the privilege.

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"As a German, I feel obliged to fight against all those who consider Nazi crimes to be a 'detail of history'," he said.

But despite fines and convictions for making identical remarks twice in the past, the French politician cannot be prosecuted for his comments on Wednesday because he is protected by parliamentary immunity.

"He is exploiting immunity for his own squalid and evil ends. Disciplinary action and the rule change preventing him from becoming father of the house are certain now," said an official.

Mr Le Pen was convicted by a Munich court in 1999 for "minimising the Holocaust" after telling a German far-right meeting that Nazi concentration camps and the gas chambers are "what one calls a detail".

On that occasion, the EU assembly lifted his immunity because the comments had been outside the parliament chamber.

Mr Le Pen also received a large fine of 1.2 million francs in France for making identical claims in 1987.

He has had a string of other convictions for racism or inciting racial hatred and was banned from being an MEP in 2003 following a physical attack on a French Socialist MEP.